


Detour to Love

by Uncle_Riko



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-04-24 11:05:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14354163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uncle_Riko/pseuds/Uncle_Riko
Summary: In the end, it was only temporary, a sham, a fake marriage.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> if you squint real hard, it kinda looks like a sequel to Prelude to Love

At the break of dawn, Yoshiko could usually be found retreating deeper and deeper into her fortress of blankets, combating both her blaring alarm clock and the sun’s increasingly fatal rays. But not on this day—no, today she was up bright and early for her date with Riko. ...Ok, so maybe it wasn’t an _actual_ date (Yoshiko just liked to imagine it was), they were just going to hang out and grab something to eat, as they did quite often on their mutual days off, but that was beside the point.

Spending time with Riko was always the highlight of Yoshiko’s day, week, month—whatever it may be. Maybe waking up at sunrise was a bit over-zealous, seeing as they weren’t meeting up until noon, but hey, she was excited, it’d been almost a month since she’d last seen Riko, and this time, she thought, for once, that she’d actually drag her ass out of bed and show up on time.  Besides, with thoughts of the auburn-haired beauty already swirling around in her head, it wasn’t likely that she’d be able to get back to sleep.

She hopped on her computer, figuring, with a couple hours to kill, she could get a jumpstart on some of the many assignments and essays she’d been putting off. Her cursor habitually hovered over to the web browser, the gateway to her procrastination woes, before the thought of Riko scolding her, cheeks angrily (adorably) puffed out, dissuaded her. It was kind of pathetic, how whipped Yoshiko was, even when Riko wasn't physically there. But at the same time, simply daydreaming about Riko gave her the motivation to be more productive; maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing?

This all started because Riko had become so out of her league. Sure, they’d both done the whole school idol thing a few years back, and perhaps on stage they'd been on equal footing, but now that they were all grown up, Riko had become a classy and refined young woman, and Yoshiko was, well, she was just lazy, weird Yoshiko. But even so, what harm was there in trying to better herself, in using her own insecurities as motivation? If anyone asked, she was just getting her shit together, it _certainly_ had nothing to do with the massive crush she’d been nursing since high school.

. . .

Feeling decently satisfied with the utter bullshit she’d dumped onto the page (writing was not her forte), Yoshiko glanced at the time, finding it was almost ten o'clock. She jumped in the shower, but not before sending Riko a quick message: 

**Yoshiko:** hey should I meet you at the restaurant or the train station?

Drying her hair and pulling a sweater over her head, Yoshiko checked her phone for Riko’s normally punctual response. But surprisingly, there was nothing. Twenty minutes had passed while she’d been in the shower, and then another five, then ten—still nothing. It was already ten thirty by now; it was uncharacteristic of Riko to sleep in so late. She was usually the one having to give  _Yoshiko_ a wake-up call.

**Yoshiko:** lilyyyyy **Yoshiko:** wake up sleeping beauty **Yoshiko:** we still grabbing lunch today??

She didn’t want to sound too anxious, nor too eager, so she dramatically stepped away from her phone (hands up and all), opting to finish her hair and makeup rather than stare at the phone waiting for a response.

Come eleven o’clock, her inbox still Riko-less, Yoshiko was out the door, mildly ticked off at Riko for ignoring her, and also mildly worried that something could've happened to her. Hopefully neither would be too apparent on her face when she showed up unannounced at Riko’s apartment.

 

* * *

 

“Whoa, you look like Hell.”

Riko had answered the door in her nightgown, groggy and squinting from the harsh sunlight. Her hair was in disarray, last night's makeup haphazardly wiped off her face. “Gee, thanks,” she yawned, “Or maybe, coming from you, that was actually a compliment?” She motioned for Yoshiko to come in, slowly shuffling over to the kitchen to start a pot of tea.

Yoshiko smiled to herself, relieved to see that Riko had merely slept in. She sat down at the dining table, where she was ambushed by a familiar face (and bark). “Prelude! Long time no see!” The pug jumped onto her lap, barking excitedly and licking her face. Riko joined them at the dining table, amusedly taking in the reunion unfolding before her.

“So, why the late start?” Yoshiko finally brought up, cradling Prelude in her arms, as Riko scrolled through her text messages, “It’s not like you to burn this much daylight.”

“Sorry, I had to close yesterday at work, didn’t get home till three in the morning.” She yawned again, “You didn’t have to come wake me though, I wouldn’t have missed our date.”

“I-It’s half past eleven,” Yoshiko quipped, taken slightly aback by Riko’s nonchalance, “y-you definitely would’ve been late…!”

“Says the girl who’s always late.”

“H-Hey! I specifically woke up early today!”

Riko rolled her eyes, getting up to serve the tea. She handed Yoshiko a mug before slumping over the dining table with a sigh. It’d been awhile since Yoshiko had seen her so out of sorts.

“Yoshiko-chan,” Riko began tiredly, “do you have a million yen laying around that I can borrow?”

“Eh…?”

“Nevermind,” she laughed dryly, “just thinking out loud.”

Riko may have said it jokingly, but Yoshiko could tell there was some actual weight behind her words. Coupled with the sighs, the bags under her eyes, maybe something actually _was_ eating at her. Yoshiko knew Riko was attending a top-notch music school, and that she was having trouble financing it, but that was the extent of it. She never bothered to ask about it, make her talk about something uncomfortable or sensitive. Until now, that is.

“Isn’t your dad like super rich?” Yoshiko pressed, deciding, if Riko brought up the subject, maybe she actually needed to talk about it.

“Well, he’s not _O’hara_ rich, but I guess he’s pretty well off. He’s not the most supportive of me going to music school though.” She sighed, “My mother is doing all she can, but I don’t want her to work so hard on my behalf, which is why—"

“—Which is why you’re working two jobs.”

 “Yeah, I’ve been working over thirty hours a week, _on top_ of school.”

“Well, shit.” Yoshiko scratched her head sheepishly. She knew the feeling, of helplessness, hopelessness. She had similar financial woes herself, but unlike Riko, hadn’t had the resolve to take on two jobs and sacrifice so much. That’s one of the things she’d always admired about Riko, her willpower, her determination. But even now, that strength seemed like it was fading.

“I don’t know what else I can do,” Riko lamented, “even with two jobs, I’m barely scraping by.”

Yoshiko wanted to say something, have all the answers, be the shoulder to lean on, just once, but she was at a loss when it came to words of comfort and sympathy. “Um...well, have you looked at financial aid?”

“I have, but with my dad’s income, they won’t even look at my file.” Riko pouted, drumming her fingers annoyedly against the table.

“He’s overseas, isn’t he?” Yoshiko recalled, “And he’s not even supporting you, how does that count?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that, until I graduate, I'll be considered dependent on his income.”

“Damn, that’s stupid.” Yoshiko didn’t quite understand how it all worked, but it sounded somewhat familiar. She’s certain her mother had been over all the financial stuff with her before she started university, but she’d barely paid attention at the time. Mari too had vented to her at some point, complaining about how her parents, as in Riko’s case, weren’t supporting her in her collegiate endeavors either. She hadn’t remembered much from that conversation either, except that Mari had been joking about some ridiculous loophole she’d heard about. Now what was it again...?

Her breath hitched as she suddenly remembered, her cheeks taking on color.

It seemed Riko had taken notice, “Yoshiko-chan? Are you ok? Your face is flushed.”

“I-I’m fine…!” She covered her mouth as if to hold herself back from suggesting something so stupid, so selfish. “S-So I heard from Mari that there is a way you might be able to get financial aid…”  _Too late._

“Eh? Really?”

“Y-Yep...! You just have to…uh...g-get married…”

“Married?”

Even with her gaze averted, Yoshiko could feel the intensity of Riko's stare. It certainly didn't help that she was blushing so furiously. “I-I know, crazy, right…? Mari was probably just joking, I doubt that it’d actually work—”

“Well, I mean, that’s not _that_ crazy, it makes a lot of sense actually…”

“Ehhh? Seriously?!” Yoshiko stood abruptly from her chair, scaring Prelude off. The fact that Riko would even consider such an idea made her heart race, f-for whatever reason...

“Well, you’d claim yourself independent from your parents, and, assuming your spouse isn’t rich or anything, your income level would make you eligible for better financial aid. And even better, quitting my jobs would not only _not_ be hurting me, it’d be helping me!”

Yoshiko had since tuned Riko out. She didn’t care _how_ it worked, or even if it worked at all, only that Riko was onboard with the idea.

“I mean, it wouldn’t even have to be for real, right?” Riko continued, “Sure the marriage would have to be official, but assuming both parties agreed on the terms, we could just get divorced after graduation.”

“T-That’s true…" It was an exciting prospect to Yoshiko at first, but in the end, it was only temporary, a sham, a _fake marriage._ As fun as it was fantasizing about being Riko's bride, Yoshiko couldn't stomach the idea of them parting ways, making the marriage no different than a contract, a business deal. But that was the whole point, wasn't it? 

“I guess the hard part would be trying to find someone who'd be willing marry me on such short notice," Riko pondered. "Like, I don't even know where I'd start. They'd obviously have to understand my situation—maybe a friend? It’d also be nice if they could benefit from the marriage as well…”

Ok, now Riko was just taunting her, even if she didn't realize it. Yoshiko definitely met the criteria she'd laid out, and, on any other day, she'd have jumped at the opportunity to marry Riko. But this, this was absolute madness. The worst part was, against her better judgment, Yoshiko was seriously considering it. Was she really about to take one for the team? No, who was she kidding, this wasn’t for the team, this wasn’t even for Riko anymore.

 

This was for her.

 

“U-Um, Lily…you can marry me…i-if you want…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry the financial mumbo jumbo is kinda dry haha, shouldn't be too bad from here on out, but I had to set it up somehow, and I liked this scenario more than like a fake marriage for a green card
> 
> for reference  
> https://imgur.com/gallery/6hUqk


	2. Chapter 2

Yoshiko couldn’t remember how she’d gotten to the restaurant, how she’d managed to order food, nor how a previously unkempt Riko had managed to change her clothes and do her hair and makeup. The last thing she could remember was sitting in Riko’s kitchen, staring blankly out the window, counting the petals on the sunflowers perched just outside on the windowsill. It was an impossibly mundane task, especially given her attention span, and especially given the dog jumping excitedly in her lap.

But she _had_ just asked Riko to marry her, perhaps a properly distracting task was in order. When she thought about it however, she could’ve sworn Riko had uttered something resembling an “Ok, let’s get married!”, as opposed to the “Ew, no way!” that she’d anticipated…Nah, that couldn’t possibly have happened. The girl of your dreams doesn’t just accept your on-a-whim marriage proposal, everyone knows that. And yet, here she was, Riko sat across from her, a sunny disposition to boot. Unless Riko was more sadistic than Yoshiko herself, that look she was sporting had more of an “I’m getting married” vibe than an “I just turned down a proposal” vibe.

But still, it all felt so surreal, like an out-of-body experience…that’s it! She could be sleepwalking, or daydreaming, maybe playing some stupid dating simulator where she actually gets the girl, _something_. She wasn’t _actually_ engaged…was she?

“Yoshiko-chan, mind if I have a taste?” Riko’s voice suddenly cut through the din of the restaurant. But how odd that the background music had stopped playing. On top of that, the dialogue choices weren’t showing up at the bottom of the screen. Stupid dating sim must be broken.

“Oiii, Yoshiko-chaaan.” Riko chuckled at Yoshiko’s obvious spaciness, “Anyone home?”

Yoshiko followed Riko’s pointed gaze to find, surprisingly, not a game controller in her hands, but a fork. “Eh? Oh, here.” She absentmindedly offered the fork to the redhead.

Ok, so acting of her own volition, _without a prompt?_ Perhaps this wasn’t a dating sim. Surely, sleepwalking or daydreaming was still on the table though?

“Here, you can try some of mine.”

Yoshiko found a fork thrust suddenly in front of her. Leaning forward subconsciously, she took a bite—it was delicious… _vividly_ so. “Some dream, huh…”

“Dream? What are you talking about?”

Well duh, silly dream Riko. Sure, the delicious food was an anomaly, but where else but a dream would she be engaged to such a beautiful girl? Where else but a dream would she have so casually engaged in an indirect kiss? Where else but a dream would she—Wait a second, on the off-chance this _wasn’t_ a dream, that last one meant…

Riko seemed to notice her sudden-onset embarrassment. “Geez, you’re such a child,” she joked, “You can’t be embarrassed about an indirect kiss now that you’re my fiancé.”

“F-Fiancé…?”

“Too much?” Riko laughed, “Hey, it’s technically true though.”

“S-So…I’m not dreaming…am I…”

“This again? Yoshiko-chan, are you ok?”

Riko’s voice was drowned out by Yoshiko’s loud and boisterous inner thoughts. For the first time, it was finally starting to sink in: she was actually getting married. Perhaps not in any way she’d ever imagined, but it was happening. And to Riko Sakurauchi, the girl she was so hopelessly in love with. The girl who’d always been there for her. The girl who…would never love her back, not even in marriage. But honestly, who could blame her? You didn’t have to be in love to be fake married.

“…Are you sure about this, Riko…?”

The redhead was taken slightly aback; it wasn’t often Yoshiko addressed her using her actual, human name, “Y-You’re not dreaming, ok? Trust me—”

“I’m talking about this whole marriage thing, you don’t have to go through with it, you know…”

“Eh? Well, if you’re getting cold feet, I could always find someone else.”

“T-That’s not it, I want to marry you—” She paused, immediately realizing the gravity of her mistake, “I-I mean, I want to help in any way I can…!”

“Well, let’s do it then!” Riko exclaimed, seemingly oblivious to Yoshiko’s slipup. She reached for Yoshiko’s cold, clammy hands, her touch, her smile, warm and gentle.

God, what had she done to deserve such a blessedly cursed fate? No, no, she couldn’t go blaming kamisama, not again. This time it was her own doing. But goddammit if she wasn’t about to see it through till the end.

 

. . .

 

“So maybe we should lay some ground rules first?” Riko suggested.

“O-Ok, what did you have in mind?” It sounded suspiciously like a contract, which, don’t get me wrong, Yoshiko was a big fan of, but only when _she_ was stipulating them. This just made it seem like a business deal…which it was, sure, but Yoshiko didn’t need to be reminded of it with a list of rules.

“Well, I’m thinking we should keep this whole thing between us for now, what do you think?”

Yoshiko scrunched her face. Didn’t that go without saying? “I agree, polygamy would just make things unnecessarily complicated—What? Why are you laughing!?”

“I _meant_ that we should keep it a secret, not that we should invite another person into the marriage.”

“…I-I knew that!!! I-I was just joking!!”

“In any case, what do you think? I want to tell my mom, but there’s no way she’d let me go through with it…”

“Yeah, no, that makes sense.” It seemed like a pretty reasonable request, after all. Yoshiko hadn’t been dying to tell anyone herself (Zuramaru would probably make fun of her for diving off the deep end, and her own mother would probably react the same way as Riko’s mother), so it was no skin off her back to keep her mouth shut.

The other rules were pretty self-explanatory and mostly just Riko rejecting all of Yoshiko’s sudden requests: No joint custody of Prelude (though Yoshiko tried, she really did), no addressing her as “Yohane-sama” (she’d been trying for years on that one), and definitely no introducing Riko on stream as her fiancé (she knew Riko would say no, but it was worth a shot).

To be honest, it felt no different than their current friendship, if Yoshiko had to be quite honest. Hiding their engagement/marriage from everyone meant no charades, no public displays of affection, nothing…not that Yoshiko expected there to be any such exhibitions. To say she was disappointed though, that they wouldn’t even be lovey-dovey in private was, well, an understatement.

She sighed. Maybe this was what all the naysayers meant when they said marriage was “just a piece of paper”. Or perhaps she was simply getting greedy, _already_. She was getting her marriage, but now she wanted a _genuine, perfect_ marriage.

 

. . .

 

They’d stepped out of the restaurant, after what seemed like an eternity of talking and planning, the sun, once high in the sky upon their arrival, making its descent towards the horizon.

“I’ll look into the marriage ceremony and give you a call later to plan a date, sound good?”

 “Y-Yeah, sounds good.”

“Alrighty then! Oh, and Yoshiko-chan?” With a smile, Riko turned towards the train station, but not before leaving Yoshiko with a parting hug. “Thanks.”

 

* * *

 

Yoshiko flopped onto her bed, utterly exhausted. Normally, waking up so early would make her physically exhausted (which she was, to some degree), but for the most part, she was pretty sure what she was feeling was _emotional_ exhaustion. She checked the time—half past five. Maybe she would sleep till midnight, skip dinner all together. She was a creature of the night, after all.

She closed her eyes, ready for darkness to whisk her away from the whirlwind of a day she’d had. But how could she possibly sleep with the incessant flittering of butterflies in her stomach? On top of the whole engagement thing, and the indirect kiss, Riko had just ambushed her in a hug, the likes of which Yoshiko had been replaying in her mind over and over again. Riko was so warm, and smelled so good, Yoshiko wished she could’ve stood there, forever in her embrace.

Ok, so maybe hugging was a normal occurrence in a _normal_ engagement, between  _normal_ couples, hell, even between normal friends, but this was no normal engagement, and though Riko was fairly normal, Yoshiko was far from it. Besides, that was the closest she’d been to Riko, like, ever. So goddamnit, if she was going to revel and be all gooey and embarrassed from a hug, then so be it.

Fortunately, after an hour of laying wide awake, she could feel herself drifting, mere seconds from sleep. _Unfortunately,_ that’s when her phone began to buzz.

_“Ok, so it’s all set. We just have to go down to the city hall, and they’ll marry us. Thursday afternoon work for you?”_

“L-Lily…?” Yoshiko yawned, sitting up on her bed, “Damn you work fast…So wait, Thursday? _This_ Thursday?”

_“Yeah, that work for you?”_

“S-Sure. What should I wear though?”

_“It’s up to you. You only get fake married once though, so maybe something nice haha?”_

“R-Right, and what about the other stuff, like wedding rings?”

_“You don’t need them to get married and I figured, since we wouldn’t be wearing them in public anyways, we could just skip over that aspect, sound ok with you?”_

“Y-Yeah…I guess so…” Yoshiko scratched her head. This was all happening so fast. “What about guests? Are you sure you don’t want Chika or You or anyone else from Aqours there?”

_“I’ve thought about it, and well, I still think it’d be best to keep it a secret. Wouldn’t want them getting worked up over nothing.”_

“…Nothing, huh...” she muttered, just out of earshot.

_“So. Thursday afternoon. Don’t be late, Yoshiko-chan!”_

“Mhm…”

_“Goodnight!”_

 

Yoshiko slumped over her bed once more, this time with a groan, a new wave of exhaustion hitting her. She was puzzled to be honest. She should be excited, over the moon, bouncing off the walls. But all she felt was tired…and slightly annoyed. Riko was being very proactive, sure, and at face-value seemed pretty excited about the whole marriage thing. But that was only because she was getting cut a nice, fat check from the government. Was it selfish of her to expect Riko to be excited about marrying her? Perhaps. But would that stop her? Nope. For Hell’s sake, Riko didn’t even want to have wedding rings!

A sudden thought popped into her head. She flew out of her bed, and began rifling through her desk drawers; she could’ve sworn she left it somewhere around here…

 

* * *

 

Riko answered the door in her nightgown, “Yoshiko-chan? I got your text, what was so urgent? Hold on…did you run here?”

“L-Lily, h-here…!” Huffing and puffing, Yoshiko shoved a small box into Riko’s hands.

“W-What’s this…?”

“My grandmother gave it to me awhile back…said I should save it to give to someone special, so…” Her deeply crimson face was (luckily) hidden by the blackness of the night, as she watched, in silence, as Riko slowly opened the box, revealing a diamond ring inside.

“Yoshiko, I…I can’t accept this…”

“Y-You don’t have to wear it or anything!” Yoshiko exclaimed. “I-It’s just for, y-you know, since we won’t have wedding rings, in case the government tracks us down and tries to invalidate the marriage, o-or something…”

A smile found its way across Riko’s lips, “I don’t think that actually happens in real life—”

“Please…!” Yoshiko closed Riko’s hand around the ring. “I want you to have it.”

Riko stared once more at the ring, captivated by its brilliant sheen. It was a symbol of their marriage, a promise, an engagement that she, in the moment, couldn’t even dream of breaking. But more than that, it was a piece of Yoshiko Tsushima.

With tears in her eyes, she slipped the ring onto her finger.

“…It’s beautiful Yoshiko, thank you.”

 

* * *

 

Yoshiko groggily checked her phone. After finally falling asleep, who was texting her so late at night—Riko?

**Riko:** Um, we’ve got a bit of a situation on our hands…  
  
**Character A:** what’s wrong?  
  
**Character A:** call me??  
  
**Riko:** I can’t, she’s in the next room over.  
  
**Character A:** who is?  
  
**Riko:** My mother.  
  
**Riko:** She found the ring.  
  
**Character A:** what!?  
  
**Riko:** She knows.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, i am indeed alive! Sorry for the long wait, had both a lot and also nothing going on at the same time haha. But next chapter will definitely not take a month to update (hopefully :])


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter kinda reminds me of another fic I've written hmm

It was hard being kept in the dark, and this was Yoshiko we’re talking about—she loved the dark. But the phone call from Riko couldn’t come any sooner. She’d gone home to Uchiura for the weekend, which made sense, given the whole “mother finding out” thing, but Yoshiko didn’t peg Riko as one to be so careless; how could her mother possibly have found the ring, unless…maybe Riko had been wearing it the whole time…? I-In any case, she promised that she’d call Yoshiko when she got back into town, which was ominous in and of itself—Yoshiko couldn’t begin to anticipate what bad news awaited her.

. . . 

_“So…here’s the deal.”_ Even over the phone Riko sounded exhausted. _“My mother wants to have a talk with us…both of us.”_

“How much did you tell her!?”

_“Well…I told her the truth, that I was getting married…to you…next week.”_ Amidst Yoshiko’s audible gulp, Riko quickly reassured her, “ _Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her the real reason we’re getting married, though.”_

“O-Ok, so she just thinks we’re getting legit married? And she’s ok with that…?”

_“That’s the thing, I know for a fact that if she knew the whole truth she wouldn’t let us go through with it. But the fact that she thinks otherwise, and also, well, the fact that it’s_ you _…I-I think she may be open to the idea. I think that’s what she wants to talk to us about…”_

Hold up. What did she mean by that last part, the fact that it was _Yoshiko_? Sure, she’d been on good terms with Riko’s mother ever since high school, but being polite to your daughter’s friends and supporting holy matrimony between them were two entirely different things.

_“Yoshiko? Are you there?”_

“Huh? O-Oh yeah, I’m here…”

_“You were planning on heading back to Uchiura next week for summer break anyways, right?”_

“Mhm...”

_“Well maybe we should postpone the wedding until then, so we can sort things out with everyone.”_

“‘Everyone’…?”

_“Well, if my mother knows, chances are, your mother knows by now. I wouldn’t even be surprised if the Takamis knew…and Chika…and all of Aqours…”_

“Whoa there, s-slow down…! Uchiura’s not that small a town that word would spread that fast...”

_“You don't know that though, it will have been an entire week, who knows who my mother may have told?? Ugh, god, I’m so sorry, this is all my fault!”_ Riko cried. _“I took the ring off as soon as I got home, and left it on my desk, and my mother just happened to find it…”_

Wait, so Riko _had_ been wearing the ring? Like, the whole time? As in, someone could have seen her on the train ride home and thought, “Oh, this woman is engaged. Good for her, I hope her and her fiancé live happily ever after”?

“D-Don’t be sorry…!” Yoshiko managed to choke out, “We’ll figure it all out, I’m sure of it…!”

 

* * *

 

A setting sun, empty car, sitting side by side... Had it been any other occasion, this train ride back to Uchiura would’ve been the most romantic shit ever. But alas, they were headed towards their doom, or at least, to a very uncomfortable conversation with Riko’s mom. Yoshiko would’ve been content to just sleep the whole way there (or maybe have Riko fall asleep on her shoulder??) but they had to formulate their plan of attack (or rather, defense) for their face-off at the Sakurauchi household later that evening. Thanks to Riko’s little omission however, they didn’t really have a choice in the matter, they'd finally be taking a page out of Yoshiko’s playbook: _finally_ , they'd get to make their debuts as lovers.

As nerve-wracking as it was, Yoshiko had to admit, she was kind of excited. Screw the rules they’d established, Riko was essentially giving her free range tonight. That meant PDAs, pet names, the works. And you bet your ass Yoshiko was going to take advantage of this opportunity.

“Don’t get any bright ideas,” Riko warned, as they approached the Sakurauchi household, “It’s just for one night, ok?”

Yoshiko’s eyes were rolled halfway to the back of her head, her sarcastic “yes ma’am” halfway up her throat before she saw that Riko’s cheeks were tinted pink. Damn, this might turn out to be a fun night after all.

. . .

“Ah, welcome home, Riko.” Mrs. Sakurauchi hugged her daughter, smiling warmly when she caught sight of Yoshiko. “It’s nice to see you again, Yoshiko,” she greeted, to which Yoshiko bowed eagerly, “Please, come on in.”

Yoshiko stepped inside, taking off her shoes before recounting various fond memories of the Sakurauchi household. She’d been over quite often in high school, especially after Riko had gotten Prelude. As much as she loved that dog, Prelude was too often just an excuse to come over and hang out with Riko, not that Yoshiko would ever admit it. She was ecstatic though that she got into a university close to Riko, that her girlish hopes and dreams of being close to her wouldn’t have to end with high school, but she still treasured all those times they’d spent together in the Sakurauchi household.

She took a seat on the couch at Riko’s mother’s behest, Riko nervously sitting beside her, as her mother prepared tea. It was rather strange, usually Yoshiko was the one getting nervous when in such close proximity to Riko, not the other way around. But tonight was her night to act as deludedly in love with Riko as she possibly could…or at least, so she thought. But upon reaching for Riko’s hand, she found herself thinking, not selfish thoughts, but only how she could help ease the redhead’s nerves.

“So, you two,” Mrs. Sakurauchi set down two cups of warm tea in front of them, “We have a lot to discuss, don’t we?”

Riko smiled weakly, which Yoshiko mirrored. Mrs. Sakurauchi’s tone was firm, but not interrogative. Yoshiko knew she only wanted the best for her daughter. This conversation was just to alleviate her fears, was all.

“I know you both have probably thought long and hard about this, and I don’t want to dissuade you from getting married, but you should know it’s not exactly the perfect time in your lives for a wedding. You’re both still awfully young, and still in school, on top of the fact that weddings cost a lot of money. Have you thought about these things at all? About maybe waiting a couple years?"

“We’re getting married at city hall, mother,” Riko led, “It’s not going to be a big or expensive to-do so—"

“Well, what happened to the girl who wanted a big, fairytale wedding?” Riko’s mother countered. “I just can’t understand why you two are in such a rush to be married—"

“Love doesn’t wait!!” Yoshiko interrupted, before clamping her hand over her mouth. “W-What I meant to say was, w-we’ve been in love for so long that, uh, we thought it might be time…?”

Riko glared at her, with a look that said she was obviously not helping.

“See, I didn’t even realize you two were dating, Riko had never told me. Of course, I had my suspicions when you were both younger, but I had no idea Riko even liked girls in that way—”

“Mother!”

“I’m just saying, Riko, when your daughter comes home one evening and tells you she’s getting married in a week, and to another woman, well, it catches you off guard.”

Yoshiko glanced over to see how Riko would respond. To be fair, she hadn’t ever ascertained for herself whether Riko was gay or not. And this little charade didn’t prove as much either. Though, by the crimson hue to Riko’s cheeks, she was either incredibly gay and embarrassed, or just a terrific actor.

“…Yoshiko and I have been together for a while now, I just…I didn’t know how to tell you…”

“Well, were you ever going to tell me that you were engaged? That you were getting married in a week? All I’m saying is, you two have all the time in the world. You have my full support, please know that, but at the same time, just know that there’s no rush to get married, to settle down. And I’m sure, with a love as strong as yours, it shouldn’t matter if you got married tomorrow, or in ten years.”

Yoshiko felt her own cheeks burning up. Damn. They must’ve been putting on quite a show if Mrs. Sakurauchi thought their fake love could weather a decade of storms.

Riko bowed her head, feverishly searching for some kind of rebuttal. But Yoshiko could tell she was burned out. Perhaps it was time she stepped up to the plate?

“Mrs. Sakurauchi, with all due respect, what better time is there to get married? With all the stress of school and life baring down on you, it’s times like these when I need Lily—I-I mean, Riko, by my side. Just being able to see her smile every day…it gives meaning to all the struggles and toils and hoops I have to jump through every day—it all feels like it’s finally worth something, ya know? And I…I like to think that Riko feels the same.” As much as it looked like an attempt to goad Riko into some fake romantic bullshit, Yoshiko really did mean what she said. Riko didn’t need to know or believe that though, only her mother did.

Riko merely smiled, a smirk tugging at the end of her lips, “I couldn’t agree more.”

A wistful sigh could be heard opposite the two of them, long and drawn out, “…Well, if you’re both set on it, and you’re both happy, then I couldn’t be happier. I stand by what I’ve said tonight, but I know that you’re both adults and that you’ll make the decision that’s best for you, and I’ll support that decision, no matter what.”

Riko embraced her mom, “Thank you, Mother, you don’t know how much that means to the two of us.”

Mrs. Sakurauchi chuckled, “Believe me when I say I’m happy for you two, but a part of me is sad I won’t get to see my daughter have the big wedding she’d always dreamt of…Oh, I know! Let me throw you an engagement party!”

Yoshiko and Riko exchanged nervous glances.

“Mother, that’s not really necessary—”

“Oh, come now, Riko, my only daughter is getting married, give me this! Just a small gathering with friends and family to celebrate while the two of you are in town.”

Riko looked to Yoshiko, who merely shrugged, indifferently. “...Ok, fine.”

“Great! I’ll contact your mother then, Yoshiko. I’m sure she’d love to be involved!”

“Y-Yeah, I’m sure she would!” Yoshiko agreed reflexively. Wait, shit, no, she hadn’t even told her mother yet!

“Ok, then, it’s settled!”

 

* * *

 

Yoshiko and her mother never really saw eye to eye. First it was Yoshiko’s demonic ways and the whole “broadcasting herself to the entire world” thing (to be fair, not many moms would see eye to eye with their daughters on that one). Then it was college. Yoshiko’s mother wasn’t dumb, she knew her daughter was just chasing after her high school crush. That much she didn’t particularly disagree with, it was going to an expensive university Yoshiko had never even heard of _for the sole purpose_ of being close to Riko that she disagreed with, especially when Yoshiko had no particular ambitions, and was the furthest person from being set on a major or a career path. Yoshiko’s mother was an educator, she knew how it worked in university, and she knew how her daughter worked; Yoshiko would flip-flop between majors a couple times, maybe fail a couple classes due to laziness or disinterest, all the while spending loads of money that they didn’t have on rent and tuition.

At some point, it just became too tough to reason with her, especially when all her actions were driven, intensely so, by her love for Riko. But she could understand that. She had been young and in love once. She just had to trust that she’d raised her daughter well enough, that when the going got tough, Yoshiko would have a competent enough head on her shoulders to fend for herself. Maybe college would be a humbling experience for her (she'd seen no evidence of that yet, so maybe not). As a single mom, she’d done her best to lead by example. But some things Yoshiko would have to learn for herself. This marriage thing sounded like a good place to start.

“I thought you might show up sooner or later.” Yoshiko was greeted by mother, sipping a mug of coffee, alone in the kitchen.

“ _Tadaima,”_ Yoshiko announced, rather late, and rather unenthusiastically. She slinked upstairs, hoping to put off the inevitable conversation until morning.

“So, I hear you’re getting married.”

Yoshiko stopped dead in her tracks. “…Mrs. Sakurauchi told you?”

“Doesn’t matter who told me.” Yoshiko waited impatiently for the lecture, the scolding, but her mother simply sipped from her mug. “Just don’t end up like your father and I, you hear?”

“…Y-Yeah, ok…” Yoshiko was taken aback by her mother’s nonchalance, but nevertheless, used the opportunity to escape to her room. She was sure she’d get an earful the following morning.

Yoshiko’s mother chuckled to herself, “Knowing how much you love that girl, that shouldn’t ever be an issue, now should it?”

 

* * *

 

Riko rubbed her eyes drowsily, the sunlight pouring in her room signaling it was already late morning. Who knew she could get such a good night’s rest after such a tumultuous week?

Enticed by the smell of breakfast wafting through the house, she found herself floating down towards the kitchen, where her mother was making pancakes.

“Ah, good morning, Riko. Sleep well?”

“Yeah, actually, I did.”

“Good! Oh, before I forget, I hope you don’t mind, Riko, but I invited all your friends from your old idol group to the engagement party. It’s this weekend, ok? So be sure to let Yoshiko know.”

“…Eh?”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hontou ni gomenasai it's been a minute since I last wrote, but I started school and other stuff (translation: I have no excuse)
> 
> It will def not be this long between chapters again, that much I can guarantee, our heroes are growing impatient being in fake love, they just want to get to the real stuff no lie, ok peace


	4. Chapter 4

“Explain. _Now._ ”

That voice. Loud and booming, with no desire to exchange pleasantries. Had they been in the main room of the Sakurauchi household with the rest of the partygoers, everyone would’ve surely stopped and turned their heads. Damn. The night had been pretty tolerable too up to this point. Most of the guests were strangers, family or friends that they’d only met once or not at all. Even their mothers were off being good hosts, so, as far as stressful nights went, Yoshiko and Riko found it all perfectly manageable. They’d escaped to the kitchen for a brief moment of solitude, but that decision had obviously proved costly, because now they were cornered, with nowhere to run.

With their backs to the doorway, and to the source of the thunderous demand, they could all but feel Dia’s impatient gaze burning holes in the backs of their heads, but it wasn’t just her, no—she had backup. As spread out over the country as Aqours was, Yoshiko and Riko knew they couldn’t avoid all of them tonight. But come on, what were the chances _all seven of them_ had been able to make it? Well, they were about to find out.

The couple glanced at one another nervously, before slowly turning around. As the faces of their former idolmates came into view (all seven of them, indeed), it was clear they all shared the same look of concern—that is, all of them except Dia, whose lips curved into her trademark scowl.

“Well? _We’re waiting_.” Dia had assumed the stance: legs spread, feet firmly planted, arms crossed. The “buu buu desu wa” was practically perched on the tip of her tongue. The rest of Aqours flanked her in V formation, just as eagerly waiting for a response.

Yoshiko cowered behind Riko before offering meekly, “…Um, w-we’re in love?”

By the unmoving stoicism that was Dia’s facial expression, it was obvious she wasn’t about to budge as easily as Mrs. Sakurauchi. “Since when?” she snapped in return.

“I dunno, since…a long time ago…?”

Riko rolled her eyes. Yoshiko’s half-assed responses weren’t doing them any favors at the moment.

“And you didn’t think to tell us? _Any of us_?” Dia scolded. “I expect this sort of behavior from Yoshiko, but not you, Riko.”

“Ok, ok, calm down, Dia,” Riko appeased, as Yoshiko sunk further and further out of view. “Look, we’re sorry we didn’t tell you. Things have just been…hectic, is all.”

Dia raised an eyebrow. Riko may have had a sensible head about her in the past, but her response was just a weak as Yoshiko’s. “I don’t believe you.”

“...Well, what do we need to do to make you believe us...?”

Dia felt a sudden pang of guilt. There was a sincerity, a sort of desperation behind Riko’s voice. It almost felt cruel to make them jump through all these hoops, to be interrogating them when they should have, in fact, been celebrating. “I-I don’t know, perhaps you could—"

“—You should kiss!” Mari interjected, because of course.

Dia flushed momentarily before nodding her head in agreement, “…Yes, a kiss sounds suitable.”

“A kiss…?” Riko laughed nervously. “I-Is that all?” She looked back at Yoshiko who had nearly frozen in place. “Sure…! N-No problem, right Yoshiko…?”

“Y-Yeah, of course!!!” Yoshiko sprung out from behind Riko, yelling, and clearly over compensating. “We’ve kissed like a million times before, pssh, probably a zillion times!! Hahaha—”

“Oi, shut up and just kiss me!” Riko whispered, grabbing hold of Yoshiko’s shoulders.

The redhead leaned in close, giving Yoshiko no time to compose herself because holy shit was this actually happening?? W-What was the proper protocol for a kiss? Are you supposed to close your eyes? Lean your head to the side? Which side? Are you supposed to breathe? Was it normal to be sweating this much??

Yoshiko peeked at an ever-encroaching Riko, who, eyes screwed shut, lips quivering, inched forward blindly, at an increasingly glacial pace. The closer she got, the harder her eyes squeezed shut. Riko looked hella nervous, now that she thought about it, maybe even more so than Yoshiko herself. Hold on. This was Riko’s first kiss too, wasn’t it? The sacred, magical, once-in-a-lifetime first kiss? No, she was almost certain of it. And yet here she was, totally about to steal Riko’s first kiss from her because of some stupid fake marriage. Some friend she was—

“…Wait.”

“Eh?” Riko’s eyes popped open; she wore the same surprised look as the rest of Aqours. “Yoshiko…? What’re you doing?”

“Look guys…” Yoshiko sighed, “We’re not in love.” Audible gasps could be heard around the room, including from Riko. “We’re getting married, that part was true, but only so we can pay for school. It’s just a pretend marriage, ok?”

An astounded Riko looked upon her counterpart, stupefied by her brashness, her idiocy, _her bravery_. She had no choice now but to follow suit and drop the charade. “N-Now do you guys see why we didn’t tell you? We knew you’d all make a big deal about it, or try to stop us...”

The room fell silent, which was, arguably, understandable. They did just drop a pretty big bombshell. For all the emotions Yoshiko and Riko were feeling, they could only imagine the whirlwind their friends got caught up in, finding out the two of them were getting married, only to find out, merely days later, that it was all a sham. They’d be at a loss for words too if they were in their shoes.

“…What about the rest of them?” Dia motioned to the adjacent room, filled with friends and family. “Do they know?”

“Y-You’re the only ones that know,” Riko admitted, “We’d be grateful if you could keep it a secret…It’s just for a little while…! A couple years, maybe…just until we’re both finished with school…”

Dia turned to the rest of the girls, silently gauging the sentiment. “Hmph. I suppose we have no choice in the matter. Just know this,” she warned, “These things have a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass, so you better know what you’re doing and what you’re in for.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am….”

She sighed, her facial expression softening, “I—rather, _we_ didn’t come here just to scold you though.” She gestured to the six other girls, the smiles slowly returning to their faces. “After all, this is meant to be a celebration isn’t it?”

 

* * *

 

The rest of the night was still rather tense, at least amongst the nine of them. It was nice to see everyone again, that much was for certain, it was just unfortunate that they were reunited under such false pretenses, especially when the occasion was meant (ignorantly and wholeheartedly, by Mrs. Sakurauchi) to be a joyous one.

As the last of the guests filtered out, Yoshiko found Riko out on the balcony, gazing fondly at the stars in the sky. The sound of the waves hitting the sandy beach was gentle, methodical—the perfect antithesis to the madness they’d gotten themselves into.

“Are we doing the right thing, Yoshiko?”

Yoshiko sat next to Riko, threading her legs between the balusters. “What do you mean?”

“What if Dia’s right? Just think of all the people that would be upset if we got divorced, especially after this big showing.”

Yoshiko couldn’t help but jokingly chide her, “ _‘If’_ we get divorced?”

_“When_ we get divorced. You know what I mean.”

“Well hey, we’ll just have to stay married then, huh.” Yoshiko felt a swift punch to her shoulder. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Look, we’re doing this for a reason, right? To help each other and our families? So, it shouldn’t matter that we cause a bit of a stir in the process, as long as we know ourselves that we’re doing the right thing.”

“Well, we could’ve at least told our mothers, our families, right? Even Aqours…We could’ve avoided this whole mess tonight had we just told everyone.”

“Hey, you said it yourself day one, Lily, your mother would’ve never let us go through with this if she found out the truth. And I bet my mom’s the same. They’ve got to much pride. They’d be willing to go to the ends of the earth, work until they’re eighty years old, just to support us and put us through school. But we’re adults now. And part of being an adult is learning to be independent, to make decisions and fend for ourselves. We might be years away from getting to that point, but hey, right now, this is, _surprisingly,_ the best we could come up with.”

Damn, did any of that even make sense? Probably not, in fact, now that she’d said it, she was pretty sure she looked like a huge hypocrite. But for once, she meant what she’d said; she wasn’t just saying shit so she could selfishly marry Riko (although that was certainly a perk of the gig), she was actually feeling committed to the whole idea of helping Riko and both of their families. And by the lengths Riko was willing to go to (i.e., the almost kiss), Yoshiko was willing to bet she was just as committed. Looking over at the aforementioned redhead, whose endearing smile had since returned, a complacent silence about her, maybe Yoshiko had said the right thing for once.

 

* * *

 

Riko passed the Takami Ryokan, having just walked Yoshiko to the bus stop, before she came across a familiar figure, sitting on the stone partition overlooking the beach. “You-chan? I thought everyone already left?”

“Oh, Riko, hey...! I-I’m actually staying at the inn tonight with Chika...” The ashen-haired girl silently twiddled her thumbs. “…A-And I uh…I wanted to make sure I got to talk with you alone before I headed back…”

Riko cocked an eyebrow; nervousness was unbecoming of the normally-spunky sailor. “…Sure, what’s up…?” She took a seat opposite You, her back towards the water. Now that she thought about it, a lot of the heavier late-night conversations tended to take place here, didn’t they? And by the vibe You was giving off, this felt like no exception.

“You really had us going for a while there, haha.” You rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Me especially…”

“Y-yeah, sorry about that…” Riko herself was still reeling from Yoshiko’s bold admission earlier.

“Nah, it’s ok, I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t at least a bit relieved that the whole thing turned out to be fake.”

“…Eh?”

“D-Don’t get me wrong! When the day comes that you find someone for real and settle down, I’ll totally be cheering you on...! I guess, well…I guess I’d hoped that maybe…s-someday…that person would be me…”

“You-chan…”

“It’s good, y’know? That this whole thing happened.” She sat up straight, wiping away silent tears. “It let me get off my ass and finally confess to you. For the second time, that is.”

“S-Second time…?”

“It was back in high school, second year. I don’t blame you if you don’t remember, it was really spur of the moment haha…”

Riko sat, wordlessly, her stomach beginning to flutter, her cheeks growing warm, as memories of the past began to flood in.

You gazed up at the night sky, the same view Riko had shared with Yoshiko not moments before. “I know you’re technically about to be married and all, haha, but I dunno…would you maybe want to grab coffee and catch up sometime…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here we go


	5. Chapter 5

“Open up, Lily,” Yoshiko pounded on the door to Riko’s apartment, “We have to talk.”

She tapped her foot impatiently. It felt so out of character for her to be stern, but Riko was forcing her hand. The past few weeks she’d barely seen, let alone heard from her fiancé. Every time she tried to reach her, it was one lame excuse after another, to the point where Riko didn’t even have the decency to make up a new excuse, and just recycled old ones. Like, come on. Yoshiko wasn’t born yesterday.

Riko was obviously avoiding her.

What else could it possibly be? Riko couldn’t be busy _all_ the time (as she so frequently claimed); she’d quit her two jobs already, and fall classes weren’t starting for another week. So what was it? Had Yoshiko done something to piss her off? She thought she and Riko had left on a fairly positive note at the engagement party—what could have possibly happened in the short time between then and their return home?

Speaking of their engagement, it’d almost been a month since they’d gotten home from Uchiura, wasn’t that little ol’ marriage thingy supposed to have happened by now? Wasn’t the whole point to get married _before_ the fall school term started, so they could get financial aid _before_ being slapped with the next round of tuition bills? Well, it was a little late for that; Yoshiko didn’t need to open the ever-looming invoice in her pile of mail to know their little plan had borne far more stress than fruit. Which begged the question: if she’d received her tuition bill, that meant Riko must have too. Why wasn’t she freaking out, pushing Yoshiko to get married tomorrow??

Yoshiko was slightly surprised to find the door creak open, Riko’s head cautiously peeking out.

“O-Oh, Yoshiko? W-What a surprise…! Come in—actually wait!! L-Let me clean up a little bit! D-Do you mind waiting out here for a sec…?”

Before Yoshiko could utter a word in response, the door slammed shut, the lock bolting. The frantic pitter patter of Riko’s feet was evident as she scurried around the apartment. At one point it sounded like she was talking to someone, who she was talking to or what she was saying, Yoshiko couldn’t decipher, but such behavior did nothing to ease her suspicions.

Riko re-answered the door shortly after, wearing a freshly-minted, obviously-forced smile (as if that would fool Yoshiko). She led Yoshiko to the living area, beckoning her to have a seat, before hurrying off to the kitchen to start a pot of tea.

Considering Riko had just been talking to someone, Yoshiko found it oddly silent, the apartment oddly empty. Maybe Riko had a secret boyfriend and he climbed out the window? Maybe he was being stowed away in a closet somewhere?? Hm, perhaps Yoshiko could get away with snooping around the apartment, under the guise of looking for Prelude? It was a feasible plan, especially with Riko busy in the kitchen. But before she could even get up from the couch, Yoshiko was interrupted by a loud vibration on the living room table. It was Riko’s tablet, it looked like someone was video calling her…

_…You-chan?_

Harmlessly, Yoshiko swiped to answer the call, and sure enough, an energetic You Watanabe appeared on the other end.

_“Riko, why did you hang up on me all of a sudden—Eh? Y-Yoshiko-chan??”_

“Oh, sorry, Lily is in the kitchen making tea. I thought I’d answer the call for her.” Despite You’s frantic intro, Yoshiko failed to put two and two together. Why would she be suspicious of one of her closest friends?

_“O-Oh, ok, gotcha…!”_ You’s voice trailed off, “ _I see why she left so abruptly haha…_ ”

“Did you want me to go get her?”

_“N-Nah, that’s ok…! I’ll talk to her later!”_

Now that didn’t make any sense. Why would you call just to talk later? “Nonsense, she’s right over here, I’ll get her for you.”

_“R-Really, its ok!”_

“Lily!” Yoshiko yelled over at the kitchen, “You-chan was video calling you, so I picked up!”

“Eh!?” Riko quickly ran over, snatching the tablet from Yoshiko, immediately hanging up the call.

“…Uh, why did you just hang up on her?”

“I-I talked to her earlier, it’s no big deal...! B-Besides, you came here to talk, so let’s talk…!”

Yoshiko could only stare in bemusement at a flustered Riko, the redhead awkwardly avoiding eye contact, clutching the tablet close to her chest. “O-Ok, well, you’ve been acting really strange, I don’t know if this has anything to do with it, or why you’ve been avoiding me, but please, if it’s something I did, you can tell me—”

“No, it’s not that at all!” Riko interjected. “You didn’t do anything…! I-I did…”

“…Huh?”

Riko bit her lip, “The truth is…You-chan and I…well…” She hesitated, as if there were a little demon on her shoulder, trying to convince her that one more lie wouldn’t hurt. She sighed, “W-We’re dating…”

“…Dating?”

“I-I know it’s rather sudden, but it all just kind of…happened! Back at the engagement party, after you left, we started talking, and well, I…I really like her…!”

Well, that settled the debate about whether Riko was into girls. But now was not the time to be celebrating. “…So this is why you’ve been putting off the wedding.”

“I-I thought it might be weird, you know? For you and for You-chan, since everything is so new. A-And I haven’t been lying when I said I’ve been busy…! I just didn’t tell you what I was up to…that I was visiting her…”

That made sense, You did live a couple towns over, a decent ways away. But that didn’t excuse Riko for not calling or not texting back.

“Look, I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you,” she continued, “I just didn’t know how you’d react—”

“Why would I care who you date? It doesn’t bother me.” It sounded kind of egotistical, saying it out loud, not to mention unconvincing, but what else could she say? Besides, in her mind, she meant it. She had to mean it. Otherwise that would make her jealous. And jealousy was a dangerous emotion to have in a fake marriage. She told herself at the very beginning she wouldn’t go down that path.

“O-Ok, good…! A-And I promise, once things settle down, we’ll get married—"

“It doesn’t matter now, fall tuition bills are already in.”

“O-Ok, t-then we’ll wait a semester…!”

The kettle began to hiss before Yoshiko could respond. Riko hurried off to attend to it, but not before looking on a dejected Yoshiko, a sudden feeling of regret washing over her.

Yoshiko slumped into the nearest chair, doing a poor job of masking her disappointment.

_It doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t bother me, it doesn’t bother me…_

Maybe if she said it enough times, it would magically become true.

 

* * *

 

_Bzzt bzzt….Bzzt bzzt…_

 

_Damn it, who could be calling me this early—Oh shit, it’s already noon…_

“…Hello?” Yoshiko sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. She’d been sleeping in a lot recently. Or rather, she’d just been sleeping a lot in general. That tends to happen when you’re bummed out.

_“Yoshiko, your tuition bill is due soon, as I’m sure you’re aware.”_

“Yeah, Mom, I know, I’ll get on it.” She was definitely not in the mood to talk about this right now. Actually, she wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone about anything right now.

_“Well, if you paid any attention during our last financial talk, you’d know that we don't exactly have the funds to get through this school year.”_

“What!?”

_“I keep telling you to get a job but you keep brushing me off.”_

That was a fair accusation, Yoshiko had been extraordinarily lazy of late. “W-Well, I thought you might have enough money to, uh—”

_“Get off your ass, Yoshiko. Get a job. Your little marriage stunt has gotten you nowhere, so in the meantime, you have to help me out with these bills, **your** bills.”_

“F-Fine, I’ll—wait, what did you just say…?”

_“I wasn’t born yesterday, Yoshiko, I know what you two were trying to do. It was a smart plan though, I’ll give you that.”_

“Well, why didn’t you say anything?? Or try to stop us!?” At this point, she kind of wish someone would’ve stopped them.

_“I have my reasons, none of which are of your concern. The important thing is, you have a hefty bill due soon. I can cover you for this semester, but unless you can get this marriage done soon, you’d better start looking for work.”_

“Ok, ok, I’ll find a job, geez.”

_“Good. Study hard this semester, ok?”_ With that, her mother hung up. Which was fine, really, it’s not like the Tsushimas ever exchanged “I love you”s or anything.

Yoshiko groaned, falling back into bed. She stared blankly at the ceiling. So her mom had seen through her lie from the very beginning, huh. Well technically, she never lied, she never even told her mom, Riko’s mother or some other neighborhood gossip did. The only time they’d talked about it was that first night Yoshiko came home, and even then, her mom didn’t have much to say on the matter. Maybe she was fine with the whole thing because she knew it would ease their financial burden? That seemed selfish as hell, letting her daughter go through such an ordeal, a marriage doomed to fail. But that couldn’t be it, after all, her own marriage ended up in failure, in fact, Yoshiko was fairly certain her mom had warned her about something to that effect that night…Well, it didn’t matter what the reason was, as long as they had her support and as long as she didn’t blab to Mrs. Sakurauchi, they were fine.

The more pressing issue was finding a job. With the wedding postponed at least a semester, if not more, Yoshiko really did need to chip in and help with the finances. But what did she have to offer to the world of working mortals? She’d never had a job, and had a relatively limited skillset; she couldn’t imagine herself brewing coffee or serving food to people, doing math on the spot as a cashier, or being a school tutor or a babysitter. And besides, who would want to hire a washed-up school idol/fallen angel with poor people skills, anyways?

Wait, maybe that’s it...! Last time she went to the mall she remembered that her favorite clothing store was hiring. Maybe she could give them a call?

 

* * *

 

“Ok, so like, basically, your job is to stand here and hand out packs of tissues.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. Oh, and you’ll be wearing this devil costume while doing it, so go get changed.”

“What’s the point of all this?”

“It brings customers in.”

“The tissues or the costume?”

“Uh, both I guess.”

“And I get paid to do this?”

“Well yeah, duh. Wait, you’re eighteen, right? You look kinda young…”

“Dude, I’m twenty.”

“Oh ok, cool, well, see you in four hours.”

Yoshiko was pretty pumped to start working. It wasn’t what she imagined she’d be doing, especially as an employee of a clothing store, but passing out tissues seemed easy enough, and she was wearing this bomb-ass costume (which, albeit a bit sexy, was, admittedly, right up her alley). This was the dream!

 

. . .

 

Ok, so this was looking more like a bad dream, than _the dream_. Her feet were killing her, she was hungry and thirsty and had to pee, and half the people she offered tissues to ignored her, while the other half just leered at her, condescendingly, _or lewdly_. She didn’t know how someone could do this for a single day, let alone for forty years.

She looked at the clock for about the hundredth time. _Ugh, it’s only been an hour, I have three more hours of this, then it’s back again tomorrow…_

Her self-loathing was interrupted by a fleeting, almost slow-motion glimmer of red in a sea of black and brown. The woman need not turn around, nor speak. Even so far away, there was no mistaking it, for Yoshiko could pick out Riko in a crowd of hundreds if she wanted to. But she wasn’t alone, no, of course she would be arm-in-arm with the ashen-haired, muscular, better-than-Yoshiko-in-every-way You Watanabe.

The two were giggling, shopping bags on their arms, drinks in their hands. You know, date shit. _Happily-in-a-relationship shit._

Who was Yoshiko kidding.

It did bother her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aannd we're back, short of a month from the last update. sorry 
> 
> again
> 
> :=]


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we are officially connected to prelude to love, though, you've been forewarned since like ch 1 lol

With her luck? Anything was possible.

To be fair, she was smack-dab in the middle of a busy mall food court. The odds of her seeing someone she knew were, admittedly, pretty high. But of course, it had to be them: the two doting lovers. She would’ve settled for anyone else, hell, even those kids who bullied her back in middle school. Round two of teasing? And while wearing this ridiculous outfit? No problem. But seeing Riko and You on a date? _Muri muri muri._ Oh well, at least they hadn’t caught sight of her—

_—Aaand they’re sitting down, great._

You was sat with her back towards her, but of course, Yoshiko happened to be directly in Riko’s line of sight. She could only pray that Riko’s eyesight was bad, that she wouldn’t believe her eyes, seeing Yoshiko dressed up like a demon at the mall, handing out tissues, _working._

But honestly, what did it matter if they saw her? Riko and You would come over, they’d exchange awkward chitchat, and then the two of them would go back to their date, and Yoshiko would go back to work. No big deal. Though perhaaaaps running into your fiancé while on a date with another woman was a bit of a mood killer? Nah, why would Yoshiko even care about that, if anything, she’d be all for killing the mood, especially when those two were out frolicking, rubbing their relationship in her face…

…Ugh. Who was she kidding? She may have had the getup, but Yoshiko could never be as twisted, as black hearted as a real demon.

W-Well whatever, so she wasn’t going to ambush them and ruin their date. But she wasn’t going to run away and abandon her post either, not with three more hours left on her shift. She wasn’t about to get fired day one. So she did the only thing she could do, and resigned herself to simply avoiding eye contact…but not without stealing the occasional furtive glance at the seated couple.

Unfortunately, it appeared Riko had the same idea, as after an extensive game of cat and mouse, their eyes finally met, if only for the briefest of moments, a puzzled expression on the redhead’s face.

Yoshiko quickly averted her gaze (an embarrassed expression on her face, mind you), whipping out her phone.

**Yoshiko:** STOP LOOKING OVER HERE  
  
**Riko:** Oh my god, is that actually you??  
  
**Yoshiko:** YES ITS ME NOW STOP STARING  
  
**Yoshiko:** its bad etiquette to be distracted during your date  
  


Hold up, did she really just send that?? Forget sabotaging their date, now she was cheering them on?

**Riko:** Oh crap, you’re right!  
  


Yoshiko watched as the three little dots bounced up and down, indicating Riko was writing more.

**Riko:** …Thanks, Yoshiko.  
  


That got a smile out of her, f-for whatever reason. But then again, this was what she had been missing: the banter, the back and forth, just being able to talk to Riko, even if it was something as small as this. It’d been awhile since a Riko reply had come instantaneously, and without an apology tacked on. Barring the circumstances, it was kinda nice.

She was about to put her phone away when it buzzed once more, unexpectedly.

**Riko:** That outfit suits you by the way lol.  
  


Yoshiko looked back a final time, half expecting Riko to be smirking deviously at her.

But unbeknownst to her, the couple had already left.

 

. . .

 

“Something wrong?”

Riko quickly stuffed her phone in her purse. “O-Oh it’s nothing! Yoshiko was just telling me about her new job. I told her I’ll talk to her later though.”

“Oh, ok…!” You took a nervous sip from her drink. “S-Speaking of Yoshiko…”

“Hm?”

“D-Did you tell her? About us…?” You already knew the answer to that, but Riko had failed to fill her in on the details of what happened after she’d abruptly hung up on her the other day… _twice._

“Y-Yeah, I did.” The unpleasantness of that conversation had been temporarily overwritten by the previous five minutes (especially Yoshiko’s outlandish outfit), but the memory and emotions were quickly flooding back in.

“H-How did she react?” You was sweating with anticipation. Aside from being Riko’s literal fiancé, Yoshiko was, besides Chika, probably Riko’s closest friend. Having her blessing would be a huge weight off her shoulders.

Riko bit her lip. “…S-She said she was fine with it.” She was just relaying what Yoshiko herself had said, but for some reason, she felt like she was lying, that perhaps _Yoshiko_ was lying. “She didn’t say much, really…”

“Really?! B-But what about the whole marriage thing?”

“I told her we could get married next semester, after everything settles down…” Suddenly, she saw the opportunity to shift the focus away from Yoshiko, “The question is…are _you_ ok with Yoshiko and I getting married?”

You was without hesitation, a normally admirable trait, but under the current circumstances, slightly unsettling to Riko, “If it’s like you say, then of course! I’m all for it. Besides, you guys had it all planned out before I came along, so who am I to interfere with that?”

…But if that was true, and if what Yoshiko said was true…why did they postpone the marriage? Why did _Riko_ postpone the marriage…?

 

* * *

 

Fortunately, day two of passing out tissues was a breeze. As was day three, and day four, and day ten, and soon enough, two whole months had passed. Yoshiko had learned to find solace, even entertainment, in people watching (and not just because she was on high alert for “people” that she knew), and before she knew it, the hours just seemed to clock themselves.

Between work and school— _for once_ —going well, and not having to stress out about the wedding, or why Riko was avoiding her, Yoshiko was practically back to her normal life again. And with You coming around more and more, it was like high school all over again. Sure, it was a little tense at first, and sure Yoshiko may have been putting on a brave face for the masses, but slowly (and after a couple dozen pints of ice cream), the idea of You and Riko being together began to hurt less and less. She may have had to resort to silly minutia  to convince herself, but let’s face it, she and Riko were never going to end up together, not in marriage, and not in “un-marriage” (should Yoshiko have never proposed the idea in the first place). So why cry over spilt milk, when she never had any milk to begin with?

Speaking of milk though, Riko didn’t have any milk. Don’t dogs drink milk? She honestly couldn’t remember. Damn, how long had it been since she’d dog-sat for Riko?

“Looks like it’s water for you, Prelude.” Yoshiko set the dish down, petting Prelude gently on the head as it lapped up the water eagerly.

She couldn’t help but smile. Prelude was as adorable as always (of course), but that was only part of the reason. Riko hadn’t asked her to watch Prelude in a long, _long_ time. And to let her into her apartment alone? And to give her a key?? Yoshiko must’ve been doing something right. Hell, she didn’t even bat an eyelash when Riko said she was staying over at You’s place for the weekend. In fact, she was p-positively h-happy for them…! (She didn’t even dare attempt to say that out loud, however).

But hey, a relaxing weekend with Prelude was a pretty decent tradeoff considering the thought of You and Riko sleeping together had only encroached upon her mind twice in the first twelve hours. And in the case she decided to lose her shit and have a meltdown, there was always Prelude to vent to.

“What a care-free life you live, huh, Prelude?” She watched in amusement as Prelude chased its own tail in circles. “Though how could I forget,” she joked, “You’ve been sitting on my secret for the past four years, haven’t you? That’s gotta be a least a little bit of a burden.”

Prelude barked in response, or, at least Yoshiko liked to think it was in response.

She sighed wistfully. “Four years later and look at where we are…in the same damn spot as before.”

 

* * *

 

Riko took a hard look at herself in the mirror.

_Wipe that worried look off your face, Sakurauchi. It’s just Yocchan, t-there’s nothing to worry about…!_

Which was true, there really was nothing to worry about. Yoshiko had watched Prelude before. But it wasn’t even about that, Riko just had a bad feeling about this weekend…

N-No matter…! Soon they’d be out on their date, and she’d forget all about it.

“Hey, You-chan, can you hand me my jacket? It should be in my suitcase.”

“Hm? Yeah, sure thing.” You rummaged through Riko’s clothes, looking for the aforementioned jacket. Instead, she uncovered something that was definitely not an article of clothing, but…a wooden frame? It was laid face-down, at the bottom of the suitcase. Without a further thought, she dug it out and flipped it over. It was a framed picture, of Riko with some dog she didn’t recognize, and…Yoshiko. They were wearing their school uniforms, what was this, from all the way back in high school? “Hey, Riko…why do you have this in your suitcase…?” She tried to insert a laugh in there somewhere, but it sounded like a nervous chuckle more than anything.

Riko quickly turned around, already certain of what You was alluding to, and already kicking herself for leading her straight to it. “T-That?? W-Well, I didn’t want Yoshiko to find it while she was over my apartment, s-so I brought it with me…!” Whoops, she meant to lie, but what came out was instead 100% the truth. Yoshiko did always say she was a terrible liar.

“…Um, why don’t you want Yoshiko to find this?”

There was a reason for that, but now that Riko thought about it, it wasn’t a very good reason. Friends have pictures of their friends displayed in their apartments all the time. But it’d just become second nature to hide the picture whenever Yoshiko came over, she’d been doing it for years. But why did she start doing that in the first place…?

Oh, right. _That_ was the reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this may get a bit spicy in the coming chapters, haven't decided. I'll post something in the notes and change the rating though if that is the case


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello friends we are back at it again with another chapter 
> 
> not super spicy, but prob enough for a rating bump to T, so be on your toes
> 
> anyways, like comment subscribe for more yohariko content!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hahaha jkjk I be watching too much YT instead of writing

“Lily…? I thought you were coming home tomorrow night?”

Yoshiko hadn’t been expecting a knock on the door this late at night, least of all from Riko. But there she stood, suitcase in tow, a distinct lack of umbrella to combat the now lightly-falling rain. Yoshiko had seen this movie before—this scene was usually accompanied by full-on waterworks, running mascara, an unnecessarily wet embrace. But Riko didn’t appear to be upset in the slightest—no, quite the contrary, actually—for the moment her eyes met Yoshiko’s, her facial expression changed to one Yoshiko had not seen before: a piercing gaze behind half-lidded eyes, a dusting of pink to her cheeks, a smirk tugging at the corner of her lip—it almost looked like…lust.

Riko raised a finger to Yoshiko’s lips, quieting her, before taking a step forward. Yoshiko backed up warily, instinctively—one step, then two—in tandem with Riko’s advances, until they both tumbled onto the couch.

Yoshiko lay, harmlessly pinned underneath Riko, staring into those mesmerizing eyes of hers, waiting for her to say something, anything, but Riko simply stared back, batting her eyelashes in a way that made Yoshiko's stomach flip.

Riko sat up, peeling off her jacket. “I suppose you want me to make the first move, then?~” She dropped the wet jacket to the floor in a manner that can only be described as suggestive.

Yoshiko nodded her head absentmindedly, because how else was she supposed to respond? It’s not like her brain was working at the moment. But as the redhead leaned in close, it hit her; Riko’s normal flowery perfume was marred, not only by the rain, but by the stench of alcohol.

“Lily, are you drunk—”

She was cut off by Riko’s lips pressed against hers. While she made no move to stop the kiss, Yoshiko found herself unable to reciprocate. It was simultaneously the longest and shortest ten seconds of her life, and as Riko’s tongue vied for entrance into Yoshiko’s mouth, the latter finally pulled away.

“Aw, did you not like it?” Riko gave her the sad puppy-dog eyes, a trait Yoshiko never knew she possessed. But despite the playful, taunting tone, it did seem like there was a hint of remorse about her.

“N-No, I did!” Yoshiko blurted out, feeling the slightest bit guilty. “I-It’s just, I’m a bit confused at the moment—”

“Oh, good, so I didn't do anything wrong, then~” Riko cut her off again, seemingly satisfied with her response, or at least the first half of it. “So, do you want to have sex?”

“…E-Excuse me!?”

The redhead rolled over beside Yoshiko, giggling. “That’s what lovers do, isn’t it?~” Teasingly, she blew into Yoshiko’s ear.

_‘Lovers’_? Yoshiko froze, her face heating up immediately. “W-We’re _fake_ fiances, remember…? I-It’s not like we’re actually in love…” The words left a bad taste in her mouth, but they needed to be said, before she, or Riko, did something they would regret.

“But I do love you~” Riko whined, “At least, that’s what I’ve been told.” She began to pepper the nape of Yoshiko’s neck with kisses.

Yoshiko jolted up in an instant, in part due to the warm sensation of Riko’s lips on her bare skin, sure, but mostly due to the words that just left said lips. “L-Lily, you’re not making any sense. I think you should go to bed—”

Riko sat up, draping her arms around Yoshiko, gently nibbling on her neck once more. “Great idea, I’ll meet you there~”

“T-That’s not what I meant…!” Yoshiko broke out of Riko’s hold, making a mad dash to the bathroom, locking herself inside.

Slouching down onto the stone-cold floor, Yoshiko buried her head in her hands. What in Satan’s name was going on?? First Riko shows up out of the blue, kisses her, initiates sex, and now she’s saying she’s in love with her? What the fuck happened during her visit with You? Ugh, but as much as she wanted to get to the bottom of this, there were more urgent matters at hand. Like what the hell was she supposed to do about Riko? She couldn’t stay in the bathroom forever.

All she’d ever dreamed about for the past four years was hearing those words from Riko (the “I love you” part specifically, but she couldn’t deny that the sex thing too popped up here and there). But Yoshiko didn’t know the entire story, about what happened with You, and why Riko had come home early. On top of that, it was fairly obvious that Riko was plastered. The last thing Yoshiko wanted was to take advantage of her. Besides, if Riko truly was in love with her, well, this opportunity would come again, wouldn't it? Tonight, Riko had obviously made some questionable choices, so for once, it was Yoshiko’s turn to be the responsible one, and turn her down. It was the right thing to do.

She stood up, cracking her neck and taking a deep breath before twisting the doorknob. Half expecting to be ambushed by Riko, and whisked away to the bedroom, she was instead met by silence, only the muffled sounds of breathing coming from the living room.

As Yoshiko peeked into the living room she found Riko herself hadn’t even made it to the bedroom, and had instead fallen asleep on the couch.

She breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what she would do if Riko had seduced her further. Obviously, she had resolved to reject her advances, but knowing herself, knowing how madly in love she was with this woman, she may not have had the strength to refuse.

She took a seat on the couch, gently resting Riko’s head on her lap. Despite falling asleep in a matter of minutes, Riko was out like a lamp. The gentle rise and fall of her chest was soothing, mesmerizing—a crazy antithesis to the Riko on display mere moments before.

Finally, Yoshiko had a moment to process everything. Riko had just shown a side of her that she had never even thought could exist. Good or bad, she hadn’t decided yet, but here she was, despite it all, still unapologetically smitten by her. 

“…I love you too, Riko.”  

Half expecting a reply, or for Riko to stir, Yoshiko held her breath, but the redhead continued to snore quietly. Yoshiko cracked a smile to herself. Boy, would this be quite the conversation tomorrow, regardless of if Riko remembered any of it, or meant any of it. She felt like she should be angry, sad even, about Riko’s carelessness, about her momentary disregard for Yoshiko’s feelings, but something must’ve happened to make her act that way, a very un-Riko-like way, and the least Yoshiko could do was be there for her, forgive her. Riko would do the same for her, after all.

Yoshiko fetched a blanket from the closet, gently draping it over her sleeping little demon. Upstairs she went, to gather her belongings, and to say goodbye to Prelude before she flicked off the lights to the apartment. She kneeled down before Riko, kissing her forehead, leaving her to her dreams.

As she stepped into the frigid air outside, she was greeted by the buzz of her phone. It was a text message…from You.

**You:** Hey, Riko’s not responding to any of my texts, just wanted to make sure she got home safe  
  


Yoshiko began to type her response, but decided against it, instead opening the contact and dialing the number.

“Hey, just got your message. Boy, do y’all have some explaining to do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter coming pretty soon, hopefully it'll answer any questions this chapter brings up. I'll try to get it out by friday, but I've been known to disappoint
> 
> also my girl riko can't even get laid on her bday, smh


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT"S STILL FRIDAY ON THE WEST COAST, I KEPT MY WORD (I'm not even on the west coast lol)

“You’re in love with her.”

You had said it nonchalantly, quietly even, but Riko couldn’t help but feel like her tone was accusatory. “J-Just because I have a photograph of Yocchan and I from high school does not mean I’m in love with her…!”

“You’re right, it doesn’t,” You conceded, “but the fact that you just called her ‘Yocchan’ kinda does.”

Riko opened her mouth to reply, but she had no room for argument after that seemingly fatal slip of the tongue. “I-I’m not in love with her…”

“You can lie to me all you want, that’s fine, just don’t lie to yourself, Riko.” You winced; she hadn’t meant to say it so directly, so aggressively, especially when Riko looked to be on the verge of tears. Her voice softened, “…You deserve better. You deserve to be with Yoshiko.”

Riko felt the tears streaming down her face. She didn’t want to be with Yoshiko, she wanted to be with You! Why didn’t You believe her? “You-chan, I love _you_!”

You took a hard look at Riko, smiling wistfully, wiping tears from her own cheeks. She’d always longed to hear those words from Riko. She just never would’ve guessed she’d be hearing them now of all times. “I know you do.”

“T-Then…why…? Why do you keep insisting that I’m in love with Yoshiko…?”

“It’s not that odd to be in love with two people, is it?”

“But I’m not—"

“—It may not be today or tomorrow, or even until you’re up there at the altar putting a ring on her finger, but eventually, you’ll come to realize your feelings for Yoshiko.” You took a deep breath. She hadn’t planned on having this conversation now, maybe ever. Why then did she know exactly what she wanted to say? “It might not seem like it now, but I have to save you from making one of the biggest mistakes of your life: choosing me.”

“I-I don’t understand—”

“—I’m breaking up with you.”

“What…?”

“I guess some part of me always knew it might come to this. But I couldn’t help but think that maybe it was just my imagination, or that I could handle it, that maybe I could win you over. But so what if I did? I was just being selfish. I wanted you for myself, you know? But I could never do that to you, I could never keep you from Yoshiko. Because I love you, Riko. Just know that won’t ever change.”

 

* * *

 

It was a brisk night out, but the cold, bracing wind against her skin felt quite nice to Riko, sobering even. Her suitcase hobbled behind her as she wandered through the streets, no particular destination in mind. You hadn’t kicked her out or anything, but how could she have stayed even a minute longer?

What You had uttered couldn’t have been further from the truth…but still, even _if_ she did harbor some sort of feelings for Yoshiko, and _that’s a big if_ , that was a long, _long_ time ago! And it was nothing more than some silly high school crush. Yoshiko may have been her past (again, _may have been_ ), but You was her present, her future! Or at least she _was_ …

She stopped at a flashing crosswalk. Technically, Yoshiko was her future, with the wedding thing and all. But the wedding was that last thing she wanted to think about now—you know what, no! The wedding was the perfect opportunity to spite You...Gah, she would never stoop that low! And she’d never use Yoshiko for something like that…at least, she’d like to think that she wouldn’t. But who knows, it’s not like she was thinking straight after all that just happened.

Ugh, she needed a drink.      

               

. . .

 

Riko plopped down at the end of the bar. For a Saturday night, this establishment was pretty empty. Bars were supposed to be lively, crowded—at least, that’s the impression she got from You’s sailor tales. Riko herself had never actually been to a bar before, at least not by herself, and she was starting to remember why. It was dirty, smelled funny, and everyone was leering at her. Was it the suitcase? The eyes red from crying so heavily? Did she really look that pitiful?

She sighed, paying no mind to the other customers. She took her coat off, forgetting she’d put the photo frame in her pocket, that is, until it slid out and fell to the floor. She rolled her eyes, picking it up and setting it on the bar.

“Who’s that, your girlfriend?” Riko looked up to find a young woman behind the bar wiping a glass with a rag.

“What? No. Why does everybody think that?” She was starting to get annoyed. Just how many people thought her and Yoshiko were supposed to be together?

“She dead or somethin’?”

“No—”

“Why do you have a picture of her then?”

If Riko learned anything from her fight with You, it was that she didn’t have a good answer for that question. “Look, I’m not a weirdo or anything, ok?” she deflected.

The bartender shrugged, setting the glass down and wiping down the counter. “You gonna drink somethin’, kid?”

Riko didn’t know where this woman got off calling her a kid, she couldn’t have been more than a couple years older than her. “Sure, uh, something fruity I guess? Surprise me.” It’s not like she knew the names of any drinks anyways.

The bartender was back in no time, setting what looked like a pink, radioactive drink in front of her. There was a cute little umbrella accompanying the drink; Riko wondered what the purpose of that even was.

Timidly, she took a sip; radiation poisoning wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen to her considering the circumstances. “Whoa, this is actually pretty good. Like _really_ good.”

“Uh oh, I don’t like the sound of that.”

 

. . .

 

“Ok, ok, so say I was in love with her…urp…what would I, I mean, what would _you_ do?”

“I’d get off my ass and go get her,” the bartender replied dryly. Damn it, didn’t they have any other customers she could attend to?

Riko took another sip from her umpteenth drink. “But see, you? You have a nice ass. Me? What good would getting off my ass do me? What’s there to even like about me??”

“I’m not seeing much so far,” the bartender muttered under her breath. She sighed, “Look kid, I think you got some self-evaluation to do, y’know? What is it that you’re looking for? And can this girl of yours provide it? Make you happy?”

“Well of course she can, she’s an angel, a _fallen_ angel.”

“Allllllrighty, I’m cutting you off. Go get some sleep, and in the morning, _no sooner_ , I want you to pick up the phone and call this girl. Got it?”

Riko clung to her last glass, chugging the rest of the drink down while she still could. “Ryokai!”

 

. . .

 

Riko stumbled out of the bar, feeling floaty and honestly, kind of giddy. Much better than she was feeling when she arrived, anyways. For that, she had the alcohol to thank, no doubt. Too bad she wouldn’t be back in town anytime soon; she was beginning to see why You like hitting up the bar. She checked her phone for the time; if she wanted, she could probably make the last train home—

**You:** Riko, text me when you get home, ok?  
  


…Stupid You. Like hell she was getting a text when she got home.

Boarding the train, she found it to be, again, oddly empty. Was she the only person left in the world or something? She sat still, immaculately so, her eyes darting every which way; maybe she was invisible? This was some next-level shit, big if true, she bet not even Yoshiko was a high enough level to make herself invisible. She cackled out loud, mimicking Yohane-sama. Oh shit, she had to be _fucking smashed_ right now to do something like that in public.

She whipped out her phone to message Yoshiko of her new achievement, only to stop at her screensaver. It was a picture of her and You from not too long ago. Of course, they were laughing, smiling…

Uncontrollably, she began to sob. She must’ve looked like a mess to be honest, thankfully there weren’t any others around. She turned her phone off, seeing You right now would only upset her further. She had no right to be angry at You for what she herself likely caused, but regardless, it’s not like seeing her face right now was doing her any good.

She took the photo frame from her pocket, the sight of Nocturne bringing a hesitant but welcome smile to her face. She wondered what that dog was up to now. She wondered if he’d get along with Prelude. She bet they would.

And then there was the two of them, the two high schoolers who brought in Nocturne. Thinking back, they were just like a married couple back then, weren’t they? They had their squabbles over Nocturne (yes, _Nocturne_ ), but god damn if those weren’t some of the happiest memories of Riko’s life. But that wasn’t just because of Nocturne, but because of Yoshiko. Yoshiko had been front-and-center in a lot of her happiest memories, ever since they’d met. She was always there when Riko needed her, hell, she was willing to marry her out of the blue just to save a couple dollars.

Riko thought back to what the bartender had said. Maybe Yoshiko _would_ make her happy.

 

. . .

 

Riko stepped off the train, not fully sober (she’d ascertained by now that she was, in fact, a lightweight), but her head clear enough to find her way home. At least, from the people filtering out of the station, she could confirm she wasn’t the only one on the planet.

As she exited the station, she found it was lightly drizzling. It may have been cold and wet, but there was a warm feeling deep in her chest and stomach. She brought her hand to chest to find her heart racing wildly. Maybe it was the alcohol? Maybe it was the fact that she couldn’t get Yoshiko out of her head?

Finally arriving at her complex, she trekked up the stairs to her apartment, reaching the door to her unit. Flustered, she fumbled with the key, missing the keyhole multiple times, finally resorting to just knocking on the door. She wanted to see Yoshiko anyways.

Yoshiko answered the door, a surprised look on her face.

“Lily…? I thought you were coming home tomorrow night?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i was tryin to make the bartender someone recognizable, but nothing was really working, so imagine whoever you want


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol sorry it's been so long, life and stuff happened (one might say we've taken a major 'Detour'), and I also kinda just ran out of steam on this one. I think it;s at a point though where it can be wrapped up without leaving too many holes or it seeming hella rushed, so next chapter will be the last
> 
> thanks to all who've stuck with it!

Riko awoke to, not surprisingly, the most bangin’ headache of her life. Man’s best friend was doing her no favors either, as Prelude excitedly jumped onto her lap, barking loudly in her ear. She couldn’t tell if Prelude was happy to see her, or if it was just hunger, but from the excited tail wagging she liked to assume it was the former.

Unfortunately, the hangover was the least of Riko’s problems; as the memories from the previous night started flooding in, she found her recollection of said events to be absolutely and insanely pristine, much to her alarm and embarrassment. Forget about the breakup (which, mind you, she had for a brief moment), her treatment, her _seduction_ of Yoshiko was the most un-Riko-like thing she’d ever done in her life. And if she herself was feeling this way, she could only imagine how Yoshiko was feeling.

She sat up in a hurry, promising Prelude her undivided attention in a moment, as the dog contentedly scampered away. Hesitantly, she checked her phone, bracing herself for the inevitable fallout, the consequences of her uninhibition, finding first and foremost that _gasp_ , it was well into the afternoon already (leading her to believe that Prelude was, indeed, just hungry). To her mild surprise however, she found no missed calls, no frantic signs that ties were being cut, only one text message: an invite from Yoshiko to join her for lunch.

That’s it? After all that, Yoshiko was asking her on a lunch date? That sounded…not too bad actually. A nice, calm discussion (in public no less, where she very well couldn’t get chewed out), and food too to get over her hangover? Sounded like a done deal—but there was always a catch. Immediately, the thought of Yoshiko’s face popped into her head: a look of disdain, of betrayal; a number one little demon would never act the way she had. How could Yoshiko possibly forgive her?

Yeahhh, on second thought, maybe they could meet some other time…! B-Besides, it was a little late for lunch now, wasn’t it…? N-Not that Riko was avoiding Yoshiko or anything…!

…She sighed, flopping back down onto the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling. She was being stupid. Yoshiko wasn’t the type to blow up at her over something like this. She probably just wanted to sit down and talk things out like adults for once, something Riko had to tip her cap to (at least someone was being mature around here). Besides, her normal, working, _non-inebriated_ conscience had been restored; she wouldn’t be able to avoid Yoshiko even if she tried, especially considering the ever-growing cache of unaddressed feelings and emotions she was sitting on.

Looks like dinner would have to do. Was it too soon to invite her back over, or…?

 

* * *

 

Making her way into the kitchen, Riko started a pot of tea, but not before setting a bowl of food out for Prelude. Waiting for the water to come to a boil, she decided she might as well tidy up the place, considering Yoshiko would be coming over later. Surprisingly though, the place was as spotless as Riko had left it Friday night. It seemed, despite Yoshiko’s whirlwind personality, she hadn’t made of mess of anything in the apartment. Hell, it seemed she even tidied up a little; the few dishes Riko had left in the sink were cleaned and put away, her suitcase had been conveniently moved from the foyer where she’d left it (likely brought up to her room), her jacket was hung up—

Wait. _Not the jacket._

She clearly remembered tossing that jacket aside during that cringeworthy striptease last night. N-Never mind that, what she had _left_ in the jacket was what mattered. Heart suddenly racing, Riko frantically dug through the pockets of her still-damp jacket to find the infamous, breakup-inducing photograph, still there and seemingly untouched. She breathed a sigh of relief, slumping down against the apartment door, hugging the frame to her chest. She didn’t know what she’d do if Yoshiko had seen the photo—

Oh.

All of a sudden, You-chan had a point, didn’t she? The paranoia, the franticness, the dodgy behavior, and for what? All to prevent Yoshiko from seeing one stupid photo? If she was You, she’d be suspicious too!

But you know what? No. It wasn’t that simple, it wasn’t as black and white as You had made it out to be. Sure, Riko had “feelings” for Yoshiko, she was her little demon, her best friend, _her Lily_. But whether these feelings translated into love, _romantic_ love specifically, well, she just wasn’t sure. And with the wedding on the horizon, ascertainment wasn’t a luxury she could afford, _especially_ should she discover these feelings to be romantic. Catching feelings was the last thing she wanted to happen in a fake marriage.

Ok, so maybe she _was_ running away from her feelings, afraid of confronting them, afraid of what she might discover. But that didn’t mean her relationship with You had been any less real, any less genuine! And while it seemed You believed her when she had said as much, she still had the gall to just end it all right then and there?

But honestly, could Riko blame her? Not really—she had every right to do what she did. So why was she still angry at her? It was clear Riko couldn’t continue to stay mad at You, especially when she was only looking out for her…

And, seemingly on-cue, as the kettle began to hiss, her phone began to ring, the aforementioned ex-girlfriend popping up on her screen.

Riko frantically bobbled her phone as she ran to the kitchen to remove the kettle from the stove. “Hello?”

“R-Riko?” You seemed surprised that Riko had picked up, “H-Hey…! I just wanted to check in…”

“You-chan, listen—”

“—Look, I know you’re mad at me and all, but I just wanted to make sure you were ok—”

“—Listen to me. I’m sorry.”

“…Huh?”

“For last night…for everything.”

The line went quiet for a solid minute, but the good kind of quiet, like all the tension built up from the previous night was melting away.

You finally sighed, that breathy chuckle-like sigh. “So, are you admitting that you love her?” she half-joked.

Riko scoffed, “No…but I think I’m starting to understand why you did what you did.”

“Haha, well that’s a start. Whatever gets you there. Just no more fuckups like yesterday, y’hear?”

Riko nearly dropped the phone. “Wait, Yoshiko told you??”

“I’m not saying she did or didn’t tell me…buuuuut she definitely told me~”

“Oh my god, I’m never going to live this down, am I?”

“Nope!” She laughed, a laugh Riko would certainly miss. She paused, the solemnity returning to her voice, “…Good luck, Riko. Know that I’ll always be rooting for you, ok?” And with that, determined to have the final word, she hung up.

“…Thanks, You-chan.”

 

* * *

 

Riko had a hard time picking out an outfit to wear that night. Something cute? Something sexy? Ok, maybe not something sexy. But still, just what type of message was she hoping to send? Thanks to You, and thanks to her own glorious “fuckup” the previous night, Riko was suddenly hyperaware of everything when it came to how she behaved around Yoshiko. Aside from having to tiptoe around her now, Riko really did want to confront these pesky feelings of hers and make things right. You deserved as much, and of course, Riko’s wife-to-be deserved as much.

 

. . . 

 

“Alright, Lily, first things first, I don’t want things to be awkward tonight, ok?” Yoshiko hadn’t even stepped inside before launching into her tirade. “Yesterday happened, and I forgive you, so let’s move on, you got it?”

“Y-Yeah, ok…”

“So, what’s on the menu?”

Yoshiko was a surprisingly good cook. It was no secret that Riko was a less-than-stellar chef, so Yoshiko had—much to Riko’s embarrassment—offered to lend a hand.

She’d seen Yoshiko cook before of course, crazy Tobasco-laden concoctions, whatever she called them. But this time was different. Maybe it was seeing her working with _normal_ ingredients, making _normal_ people food. Maybe it was the way she hummed softly as she chopped the vegetables, recognizable tunes from their days as idols. Maybe it was the way she bent down to play with Prelude, a would-be distraction to any other chef. Maybe, just maybe, Yoshiko had always been that attractive.

And so, it ended up being an awkward night for an entirely different, _entirely unforeseen_ reason than what Yoshiko had outlined. Riko had been wrong to fret over how Yoshiko would treat the events that transpired the night prior. And amidst her incessant fretting, she’d failed to account for how hard it would be to look Yoshiko in the eye and hold a normal conversation, even having moved past all of last night’s regrettable occurrences.

This itself was a new occurrence, if anything, Yoshiko had always been the awkward one. But here Riko was, fumbling with her words, stumbling over sentences, blushing at the merest of glances. Yoshiko was effortlessly defeating her in battle, all while ignorant to the fact that she was even taking part in a battle.

Riko excused herself to the bathroom, as any sane human would do in an hour of crisis. Her mirrored soliloquy was brief, interluded with multiple splashings of water to her face. "What changed? It never used to be like this! I've been single for one day, goddamnit!"

Riko left the bathroom with as much built-up composure as her body would allow. She walked straight over to the coatrack, reaching into the pocket of her jacket. She examined the framed photo one final time. She had no reason for what she was about to do, other than it felt like the right thing to do.

“Here, I want you to have this.”

Yoshiko set her knife and fork down, her mouth agape as she took hold of the wooden frame. “This photo…i-it’s Laelaps!”

As if by instinct, Riko rebutted, “I believe you mean Nocturne?”

Yoshiko puffed out her cheeks, before returning her attention to the photo. “Oh man, this takes me back! Why was this in your—I mean, where did you get this??”

“I dug it up awhile back…” Technically the truth, but still skirting around the question. “I’ve held onto it for so long though, I thought you might like to have it.”

Yoshiko smiled, that big toothy grin, sincere and nostalgic, not unlike the Yoshiko from the photograph. As Prelude jumped into her lap, she began recounting tales of Laelaps, of much simpler times.

Riko couldn’t tear her eyes away from her. The way she laughed and smiled. It was infectious, it was heartwarming.

Without a doubt, Riko was in love with her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it took forever, but we made it!!!
> 
> thanks again to those who stuck around, thanks for your patience and all the wonderful comments! The story def turned out differently than I first imagined it would go, and in some ways I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out, but that's the grind for ya, that's just how multi-chapter fics go I guess haha. That said, the ending isn't the most exciting, but I made sure to keep my promise and made it a happy one :]

It’d been years since Yoshiko had first stumbled across that photo—on accident of course, and unbeknownst to Riko. She’d assumed that would be the first and last time she would ever lay eyes on it; after all, Riko had hidden it away in a drawer for a reason. But now, seemingly out of nowhere, it was sitting in her hands. The question was, why? And why _now_ of all times?

Truthfully? The past couple months had been rather… _eventful_. Perhaps this was Riko’s attempt at an apology? At reconciliation? An escape back to simpler times? But she had nothing to apologize for. Yoshiko couldn’t blame her for falling for You, or for acting irrationally (ahem, _drunkenly)_ when their relationship fell apart. Hell, Yoshiko subconsciously blamed herself for half the shit that went down (she was usually at fault anyways, right?). But seeing this side of Riko, a side that she had never seen before, one that was vulnerable, imperfect, _human—_ it was almost…relieving.

Yoshiko had spent so much of her life comparing herself to Riko, judging her own self worth for the sake of compatibility, setting such unattainable standards for herself, so as to justify why Riko could never love her. But not a day in her life did Riko ever reinforce Yoshiko’s wildly hyperbolic image of her. In fact, she was no different than Yoshiko; they stood on the same stage as equals—as students, as idols, and yes, even as little demons _._ And, contrary to what Yoshiko led herself to believe, Riko was just as capable of love as she was. Riko herself (albeit drunkenly) admitted as much. 

So why—why was it still so hard to believe that Riko could ever be in love with her?

Yoshiko stared at the photo for the umpteenth time, the same feeling of bliss, of comfort, elicited as the very first time she saw it. She could only wonder whether Riko had ever experienced that same feeling.

. . .

“Yoshiko! Come down for breakfast!”

Winter break was in full swing, both Yoshiko and Riko having returned home for the holidays. They hadn’t seen one another since having dinner at Riko’s apartment a few weeks ago, but it was a mutual, unprompted silence, a natural break after the chaotic couple of months that had just gone by.

Yoshiko pulled up a chair as her mother set a plate of pancakes in front of her, followed by a white envelope.

“Your tuition bill for next semester came in the mail.”

“I _did_ sleep well, _thanks for asking_ ,” Yoshiko quipped, before ripping open the letter. She scanned the contents, her expression changing from a sluggish half-sleep to subtle surprise. “…This might actually be doable…” She did the quick math in her head, handing the letter to her mother, excitedly. “If I pick up a couple more hours of work each week, and with the money I’ve saved up this past semester, I might actually have enough to pay it off!”

“Hmph, who knew a small gig at the mall could prove to be so lucrative.”

“S-Shut up…! I’ll have you know I work _very_ hard—”

“I know, I know.” Her mother leaned over the counter, kissing a surprised Yoshiko on the forehead. “I’m proud of you, kiddo. You really stepped up.”

 _Stepped up, huh._ Looking back at the past semester, Yoshiko really had grown up a lot, hadn’t she? She got a job, got her grades up, and just in general, got her shit together. Hell, a couple months ago, she was skipping class to play games on her computer. And now here she was, not only going to class, but _paying_ for those classes. It’s as if she was learning from all the trials and tribulations life was throwing at her. _Crazy._

There was still, of course, one glaring loose end of note, one that she’d been avoiding—one that she _and_ Riko had been avoiding.

“…Mom, I think I’m gonna cancel the wedding.”

 

* * *

 

A light snow was falling, but that far from deterred Riko from venturing out to the supermarket that morning. Walking alongside the bay, the quiet lull of the never-changing waves—it was the little things that Riko missed while living in the city.

She happened to know that Yoshiko was home as well, and, as much as she longed to see her, as romantic as it would be to take a stroll on the beach, she thought it more prudent to giver her some space, considering the practical gauntlet she put her through the past semester.

Still, the smile on Yoshiko’s face as she left Riko’s apartment that night was enough for her. It was at that moment that Riko knew Yoshiko bore no ill-will against her for the drunken night, or for ghosting her in favor of You. Yoshiko was not the kind of girl to hold that over her head (unless of course, it was in jest). And that only made it harder not to fall for her.

Damn, it was practically freezing outside, and here she was, face on fire, blushing like an idiot at the mere thought of Yoshiko. Oh well, at least no one was around to see her like this—

“Riko-chan?”

Of course. Because it wouldn’t be a trip home without running into your ex-girlfriend.

“Y-You-chan…! H-How are you?”

The ashen-haired girl had stepped out of the store, plastic bags filled with groceries on each arm. “I’m doing good, how about you?”

“Just fine, t-thanks!” Riko shifted awkwardly. Maybe, _hopefully_ , You would chock it up to the cold weather.

She scoffed instead. “Relax, Riko, stop acting all weird! We’re good, right?”

“S-Sorry,” Riko attempted a laugh, “I just wasn’t expecting to run into you, is all…”

“Fair enough, fair enough. Listen, I’m heading over to Chika’s tonight to watch terrible Christmas movies, you’re more than welcome to join us!”

Before Riko could respond, her phone buzzed in her pocket (several times, in fact).

**Character B:** Yohane requests an audience with her number one little demon  
  
**Character B:** so like hang out or something tonight??  
  
**Character B:** if ur free of course  
  


Riko smiled to herself, “Sorry, You-chan, something just came up. Can I take a raincheck?”

You smirked, knowingly, “No problem! We’ll catch you some other time, ok?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Say hi to Yoshiko for me, ok?” You grinned mischievously, before skipping merrily on her way.

There was no need for her to grill Riko about her feelings for Yoshiko any longer. It was more than obvious the way her face lit up.

 

* * *

 

“Have you given Riko a say in the matter?”

“What do you mean?”

“She has her own financial problems too, she may still have something to gain from the marriage.”

Yoshiko had already made up her mind; why, now, was her mother trying to dissuade her, or, more importantly, _per_ suade her (into getting married)? “Well, the last time I talked to her, she mentioned that she’d picked up one of her jobs again with the spare time in her schedule. And besides, isn’t this whole thing just more stress than it’s worth?” She put her jacket on, heading for the door, ready to wriggle out of what would likely be an unpleasant conversation.

“C’mon Yoshiko, both you and I know you don’t believe that.”

Yoshiko stopped short of twisting the door knob, her temper flaring.  “…Why are you pushing for this, for me to get _married_? _You_ especially, having gone through everything with Dad!”

“What happened between your father and I hasn’t made me jaded. If anything, it makes me want to support those who are obviously, unequivocally in love with one another. I’m not saying to get married tomorrow. All I’m saying is, this decision involves the both of you, and you haven’t fully considered Riko’s feelings on the matter.”

Yoshiko found her cheeks heating up, as she honed in on her mother’s _inaccurate_ insinuation. “Mom, Lily and I aren’t ‘unequivocally in love with one another—'”

“Oh, you aren’t in love with her?”

“Well…o-of course I am…! It’s just… _she_ doesn’t feel the same…there’s just no way…”

“And you’re sure of that?”

“Well yeah, I mean—”

“You’ll never know when you’re hiding your own feelings all the time. She could be thinking the exact same thing you are now.”

Yoshiko fell silent. She couldn’t argue there, not when the same thoughts had bounced around in her head for years. Of course Riko being in love with her was a possibility, it always had been; her inner monologue just this morning had brought her to the same conclusion.

But Yoshiko didn’t have the luxury of relying on a “possibility”, relying on a hunch—if her mother was wrong, there was more at stake than just this stupid fake marriage.

Besides, there was no eloquent way to elicit the truth from Riko, no way that didn’t involve Yoshiko herself confessing first.

Yoshiko finially broke the silence, “…When did you realize?”

“Hm?”

“…That I was in love with Riko…?”

Her mother sighed wistfully, “Ahh, what was that old dog’s name again? The one you and Riko looked after? …Nocturne?”

 

* * *

 

The walk to the park was of appropriate length, seemingly long enough for Yoshiko to mull over what she was going to do, what she was going to say. Her mother, whether knowingly or not, was able to coax out the doubts that she’d oh-so-recently put to rest, and so a decision had to be made.

It’s not like she was about to ignore her mother’s advice; regardless of everything, it made proper sense that Yoshiko discuss with Riko the whole decision to dissolve the marriage, instead of just decreeing it so without consulting her first.

But as her feet brought her closer and closer, as the familiar auburn hair came into view, just in the distance, fear took over. There was a reason she had decided to end this engagement. There was a reason her mother had to be wrong. This was _Yoshiko_ we were talking about after all, _Yohane the Fallen Angel_. Her doubts were backed by history, by the fact that she had always had trouble interacting with people, with making friends, that she’d never been in a relationship. The people that were drawn to her were of like-mind, dark, reclusive, internet dwellers. Riko was none of these things. And who could forget the fact that Riko was beyond beautiful? Sure, their friendship was genuine. But in no way did that mean there was anything more to it. That's just not how things worked.

Yoshiko took a seat on the bench next to Riko. Forgoing pleasantries, she cut straight to the chase, “Look, Lily, we can’t get married.”

“….What? Why?” For a second, Yoshiko thought she detected a hint of disappointment in Riko’s voice. It was a puzzling reaction coming from her, but an honest one no doubt, seeing as she had little time to prepare herself for the immediate dropping of such a bombshell.

“Well…”

“Is it something I did?” Riko’s face was suddenly inches from her own. Inquisitive eyes, laced with worry, it took every fiber of her being for Yoshiko to not succumb to such softness.

“No—”

“—Something I said?”

“N-Not exactly—”

“—What is it, then…?”

Yoshiko looked away, Riko’s intent stare too much for her. “W-Well, since I’ve saved up a lot of money from working, a-and you mentioned that you had enough free time to pick up one of your jobs again, I thought, y-you know, that it’s just not necessary anymore…”

The redhead furrowed her brow, clearly unsatisfied with that answer. “Is that it? You were all in on this marriage thing not even a month ago, _we_ were all in. What happened?”

Yoshiko winced. She was naïve to think Riko would accept the straightforward money argument. Her mother didn’t. Hell, she herself didn’t even think it was a good argument. But that was fair, it never really was about the money in the first place, was it?

“Please, Yoshiko, talk to me!”

Yoshiko shook her head in denial. For so long she kept these feelings to herself, but she couldn’t tell her, not yet, maybe not ever.

“Whatever it is, you can tell me!”

This wasn’t stubbornness, anymore. She was scared—

“Please…”

—Scared of losing her best friend.

“Yocchan—”

“—I’m in love with you, ok!?”

Riko fell silent, her eyes widening. “…Huh?”

“Don’t you see? This whole time, I’ve been in love with you…”

It felt like the world had stopped around them. Time ceased to exist, and yet, excruciatingly, Yoshiko awaited a response, an utterance, anything.

“Since when…?”

“Ever since Aqours…ever since Nocturne…!” Yoshiko felt the tears streaming down her face. “A-And I…I can’t let you marry someone that’s doing this for their own stupid, selfish reasons—”

“Selfish? You? Yocchan, you’re the most thoughtful, considerate person I know.” Riko wiped a tear away from a sniveling Yoshiko. “…And that’s why I love you.”

Lost in her own incessant blubbering, Yoshiko almost missed it. “…W-What did you just say?”

“I’m in love with you too, dummy.” Riko placed her forehead against Yoshiko’s. “So stop crying…you’re going to make me cry.”

Through tears Yoshiko finally looked upon Riko, who was smiling and crying and so obviously in love with her, like it was the most natural thing in the world. The smirk on Riko’s face telling her, that she was silly to think otherwise, that her fears were unfounded.

In that moment, Yoshiko remembered their engagement party, how Dia and Mari wanted proof of their love. She didn’t need proof, not anymore.

But that didn’t stop her from leaning in and capturing Riko’s lips in a kiss, regardless.

 . . .

“So umm, what now?” Yoshiko had almost forgotten the reason they’d met up.

Riko reached out her hand, “Here.”

Yoshiko found, enclosed in her palm, her grandmother’s ring. “I don’t understand—”

“I want to get married, but only when you’re ready, when _we’re_ ready.” She smiled, “So until then, keep this safe for me, will you?”

“Wait! I-It’s your ring now, I can’t possibly take it back! So..” Without thinking, Yoshiko got down on one knee and offered the ring once more. She was going to do this properly this time. “Riko Sakurauchi…will you marry me? Maybe not today, maybe not this semester, or this year, but at the very least…for real this time?”


End file.
